Thursday, November 29, 2012

A Pinterest Christmas

Uncle Eric and Tad

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Time spent with family is my favorite. We missed having Justin and Lizzie here, but we will have them for Christmas. Can't wait! 

With Thanksgiving behind us, we are getting the house decorated and treats made for Christmas. Such a busy time! Why do I always wait for the last minute to start the gifts and decorations I've had in mind for months? Maybe I just need to be in the season to get motivated. Well, I'm motivated now and Pinterest is helping - probably too much! I'll never be able to make everything I've pinned. Not this Christmas, not ever:)


Here is one of the Santas that I pinned and got the pattern here. Isn't he cute? Very easy to make while watching TV.  I even have a die to cut out the tiny holly. I just need to add a ribbon or twine, and then hang on the tree, or add to a wrapped gift.


This is another project that I pinned awhile ago, but thought it might be too complicated for me. But I paid the $2.00 for the Ravelry pattern, looked it over and decided I could do it. And now, after making a zillion of them, I could do this square in my sleep!







So, has Pinterest been helpful for you this holiday season, or is it driving you crazy? (Spending too much time looking, or trying to make everything on it:) I'd love to hear your comments. Have a great and productive weekend. I have to work, dang it!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Plant Stand Revisited


 A year ago I showed this cast iron plant stand we bought at a flea market.  We kept it outside on the deck for two summers. It's rusty white paint got more rusty and then too rusty. We decided it needed to be cleaned up and brought inside.


Some sanding and a fresh coat of white spray paint and it looks perfect in the living room holding some of our plants we brought inside.



Isn't this African violet pretty? For some reason I have had bad luck getting them to reflower. But this one came right back after the first blooms faded. I'm going to the garden center and get some more. I hope they have some of those miniature ones I've seen in magazines.






And here is our little Tad, getting bigger and busier everyday. He likes to "read" books himself now. Just jabbers away while turning the pages. A true Marquis, for sure!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Table Top Garden

While visiting my niece in Illinois, we went to a favorite garden shop, Prairie Gardens. Actually they have much more than garden things. Lots of holiday, candles, decorating. It's a great place to browse and get ideas. We were especially drawn to a display of plants and accessories for miniature and fairy gardens. Everything was so cute, and so expensive! But I couldn't resist a couple of the mini plants called "Itty Bitties".


We found a rusty square pan in the barn, filled it with terrarium soil and put together a little garden to enjoy this winter. We already had some garden things from the fairy garden we made in a wheelbarrow, but this is so small all we used was the chair, gnome and watering can.



These little plants are so cute. We'll just have to keep them trimmed so we don't get a mini jungle.


I think that plant in the foreground is Irish moss. I dug up a bit from outside - notice the clover.

For years I had gotten out of the house plant habit, but lately I'm enjoying them again. Next post I'll show what we did to the cast iron plant stand I bought last year.